Sorted by date Results 601 - 625 of 1089
Just look at the numbers. More than 2,200 new cases of COVID-19 in Alaska over July 15-25. More than 200 active cases in Sitka alone last week, winning the top spot for the worst outbreak in the state. Almost 60 active cases in Cordova, a town of 2,800, resulting in the closure of a seafood processing plant. Juneau reported 44 new cases over the weekend, and more than 150 in the past two weeks. The city brought back restrictions to contain the spread of the more infectious Delta variant of the...
The Alaska Legislature already has been in session for almost six months this year and is scheduled for another special session on Aug. 2. Instead of arguing political ideology, let's concentrate on what is right and what is wrong, and focus on what is right for Alaska. The special session debates are focused on three issues: First, a long-term solution to our budget shortfall; second, an affordable level for the Permanent Fund dividend; and third, the governor's effort to pass a constitutional...
Newspapers report what happened. Sure, we also report some of what will or may happen in the days ahead, but most of the Sentinel tells you what occurred last week in the community that may affect or interest you. By definition, it's old news by the time you get it in your mailbox or buy it at the store on Thursdays. It's not deliberately old, it's just a matter of timing. Publishing a weekly newspaper has its time and production constraints, which dictate how old the news is by the time we get...
Looking around at all the boots, raingear and plastic tarps, it’s hard to imagine that Wrangell can’t handle a little water. The community can handle the rain alright. It’s collecting all that water, cleaning it and delivering it to our homes, offices and businesses that is a challenge. Wrangell’s 23-year-old filtration plant, which runs muskeg water through a variety of sand filters and other processes, struggles to efficiently provide all the water the community needs and often falls short of meeting state standards for safe drinking water. T...
The Kalkins say thank you The family of Minnie (Larsen) Kalkins wishes to thank everyone for the outpouring of love. Mom was a special lady and would be overwhelmed to know how many people think so. Thank you Nettie for the warmth of the family service. The chuckles were comforting. Thank you Zona, Annette, Lori, Missy and Les for all your work at the American Legion memorial dinner. Thank you to everyone who provided food for all to share while remembering mom. Thank you to everyone who came...
Could anything be more difficult than getting the Alaska Legislature to settle on a workable, affordable, sustainable fiscal plan for the state? Yes. Getting a clear majority of Alaskans to accept the reality and the need for a workable, affordable, sustainable fiscal plan for the state probably is more difficult - and yet it has to come first. Most legislators understand the numbers, even if they disagree or dislike the math and the choices. Many just need a permission slip from their...
Life is returning toward normal, but it isn't normal yet. COVID-19 is still infecting people, putting some in the hospital and killing Alaskans. The state reported four more deaths Thursday through Sunday last week, bringing the number of Alaskans killed by the virus to at least 374. Last Friday, Sitka reported its worst COVID-19 outbreak since December, with five new infections, making a dozen new cases in just two days. And then 11 more were reported on Monday. Nearly all of Sitka's recent cas...
Many things were said of Wrangell Institute - many bad words, but not in my storied experience. In 1950, I was sent to the Wrangell Institute when I was 8 years old. Prior to Wrangell, I had gone to first grade in the villages of Kokrines, Galena and Nenana, but never completed a full year of school due to the family trapline and seasonal moving about as part of a nomadic lifestyle. Finally, my first year at the Wrangell Institute, I got through first grade. Lately, I have been seeing a lot of...
Stikine Stitchers say thanks Thank you to the businesses that participated in the Stikine Stitchers 4th of July quilt show. Joan Benjamin Island of Faith grateful for camp support The Island of Faith Lutheran Church would like to thank everyone who so generously supported our fundraising bake sales for youth headed to Glacier Bible Camp. Thanks also to City Market for providing space for our table. Because of all of you, our young people will have a rich and faith-filled camp experience this...
The governor’s office got it wrong when it referred to $400,000 in state funding for the Alaska Legal Services Corp. as a subsidy. Guess they had to come up with a catchy explanation of why Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed the long-standing state help for the program which provides legal assistance for low-income Alaskans. Calling it a “subsidy” sounds like an attempt to diminish its value, tossing it into the tainted pork barrel of boondoggles that fiscal conservatives say must end. They are right about that. Subsidies with little or no benef...
Alaskans have taken a collective leap over the embankment of common sense. We didn’t merely leave the Church of Wisdom, we turned to the false political god of the Church of the Permanent Fund Dividend to lead us to the promised land. Think about what Moses would do. Instead of leaving the Israelites on their own for 40 days during his hike up Mount Sinai to retrieve the Ten Commandments, what if he had climbed Denali and returned with a long-term fiscal plan for Alaska, only to see the people praying to the golden letters “PFD.” He’d probably...
Thank you for the welcome I would like to thank the people of Wrangell for such a wonderful Fourth of July weekend. My parents Earl and Mary Benitz, who used to live on Farm Island, had such a fun time. Though they couldn’t remember some of your names, they knew your faces. Your warm embraces and handshakes were so good for them. A big thank you to my cousin Brenda Schwartz-Yeager and her family for getting us there and taking such good care of us. Alan Benitz Republic, Washington...
The borough is required to set the property tax rate for the next budget year that starts today, which it did. The rate will not change. And the borough is required to adopt a budget to guide its spending over the year, which it did, pretty much the same total for public services as this past year. But within that total, some of the individual numbers will change over the next 12 months, which is OK. There were too many unknowns, too many variables when the assembly approved the budget last month to expect that changes will not occur. The...
This week seems like a good time to explain to readers the different roles of a newspaper. In particular, this newspaper. Actually, any week would be a good time, as I am often reminded that many readers are confused at the different parts of a newspaper. How are news, opinion and advertising different? What are the rules for each? And who decides which is what and when? First and foremost, the Wrangell Sentinel is a newspaper. Which means we try to provide readers with news of the community, its residents, its government, and the businesses...
Legislature finishes budget, but more to do The Alaska House of Representative was able to come together Monday for a final-passage vote of the state budget, averting a looming government shutdown. The budget totals $4.5 billion in state unrestricted general funds, which is very similar to previous year budgets, continuing the six-year trend of flat spending. The budget forward funds the Alaska Marine Highway System for 18 months, providing more stability for future seasons’ schedules. The budget also includes an additional $2.5 million for p...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy will have multiple big decisions to make when the state budget lands on his desk and he decides which appropriations he likes and which he will veto. Alaska's governors have the power to pick and choose, line by line, which spending items they don't support, and can either totally eliminate them or simply cross out the number and write in a smaller amount. We ask that the governor this year not use his veto pen, pencil, Sharpie or highlighter on two budget items that are impor...
Landless Natives deserve support of communities The folks who are working on legislation in regard to the landless Natives need the support of our city councils and residents to allow the acquisition to occur. I am 80 years old and was born in Petersburg, as was my mother. Thirty years ago, Spencer Israelson, who spent his youth at Point Agassiz, took me to the mainland and showed me petroglyphs he and his friend had found as they grew up in the area. He also showed me evidence of a Native fish trap at Muddy River. My grandfather, Carroll Claus...
Blame legislators for overspending and underachieving at the underlying need for a long-term fiscal plan for the state - if it makes you feel better. They certainly have made some poor decisions. But Alaskans need to look at their own reflection in the mud puddle of politics and realize we share in the blame for electing and encouraging bad decisions by many of those same lawmakers. We're just as guilty for decades of irresponsible requests for state funding, unreasonable expectations that the...
When I was a kid, if my brothers or I acted up while on a family drive — six people packed into a sedan, without air conditioning and long before the days of spacious minivans — our dad would do like so many of his generation. He would keep one hand on the steering wheel, turn his head toward the back seat, and announce in a menacing voice: “If you don’t stop that, I’ll put a stop to it.” We knew how he intended to stop our bickering, so we usually sat down and behaved. Today’s version of that childish behavior is playing out aboard airlin...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy must have learned how to manage state finances from the same people who guard the world’s biggest secret recipes: Col. Sanders’ fried chicken, Coca-Cola, Big Mac’s special sauce, Twinkies and Dr. Pepper. Keeping secrets from customers is smart marketing hype. Keeping secrets from the public is irresponsible. And, in the governor’s case, it’s dishonest. Dunleavy, who served on the Matanuska-Susitna Borough school board and later spent five years in the state Legislature, should know his arithmetic — if he had paid attention i...
If our old friend, and my mentor, the late Sen. Ted Stevens were with us today, he would have a short and direct solution to the extended deliberations of the Alaska Legislature and governor. It would be: “Just do what’s right for Alaska.” And he might add a few expletives. It’s past time for our governor and a majority of our legislators to recognize the responsibility of each of them to represent the current as well as the long-range interest of Alaskans. This can only be done by making timely decisions based on sound and established financi...
Yeah, I know, it's 14 months from Alaska's 2022 primary election for governor, legislative seats and two of the state's three members of Congress. And who wants to spend the summer of 2021 fretting over potential 2022 candidates. Sadly, it seems many people still haven't gotten over last year's elections. But 2022 will be different in Alaska - a lot different. Voters last year approved the biggest change in Alaska elections since statehood gave us the right to elect our own governor instead of t...
It was 25 years ago last month that Wrangell received title to the former Institute property near Shoemaker Bay. The 134 acres have mostly been unused since the Bureau of Indian Affairs shut down the boarding school almost 50 years ago. There have been plans, proposals, wishes and dreams over the decades of turning the property into tourist lodging, senior citizen housing, a school or training center. And now the borough is moving closer to the latest plan - subdividing the land into lots for...
Ortiz supports cautious draw on Permanent Fund The state budget is currently being negotiated in a House-Senate conference committee, with its final passage through both the House and Senate hopefully occurring this week. When the Alaska Legislature convenes again, its focus will turn to a more daunting task: Redefining the role of the Permanent Fund in how it pays for our annual dividend and state services. Multiple House committees, including House Finance of which I am the vice chair, have hosted informational hearings on different ideas...
Wrangell children need an OCS worker stationed here Because it often takes days for the state Office of Children's Services to send an investigator to Wrangell, I was forced to send a frightened kid to a home where she had recently experienced serious domestic violence. I cannot describe my anger and frustration. I cannot describe my anger and frustration at hearing a student say, "Why bother? They never do anything," when I told her I was referring her situation to OCS. I cannot describe the an...